


5 Things About Atobe Sanada Really Should Hate (But Somehow Doesn't)

by Lumelle



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: 5 Things, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 01:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14905799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: There are many sides to Atobe, most of which should be very annoying to Sanada. Somehow, though, he finds less unpleasant facets.





	5 Things About Atobe Sanada Really Should Hate (But Somehow Doesn't)

Atobe Keigo was the very epitome of a spoiled rich kid.

It had long since surpassed the realms of jokes and become merely a fact. Everyone in the middle school tennis circuit knew that Atobe had access to all the money he could hope to spend, and very few reservations about spending it. He certainly wasn’t shy about flaunting his wealth, all but rubbing it in the faces of those around him.

Sanada found this rather distasteful, really. His family was hardly poor, yet they could have just as well been paupers compared with Atobe. Sanada had always had everything he needed and a good bit of what he wanted, yet Atobe had clearly never had to even imagine waiting. Something like that could hardly be good for the development of one’s character.

It wasn’t until much later that Sanada found out that even more than he liked spending money on himself, Atobe enjoyed spending it on others. It wasn’t even just the ease of throwing money around to buy the favor of others without further thought. No, Atobe clearly put a lot of thought into picking gifts that the recipient would especially enjoy and appreciate, showing genuine joy when his efforts were appreciated.

Sanada supposed there were worse ways for a rich kid to turn out.

*

There was no question that Atobe was, to say the least, full of himself.

Atobe was hardly shy about declaring his greatness. On the contrary, he took every opportunity to declare his amazing prowess to anyone and everyone who would stop to listen. Being proud of his tennis skills was one thing, particularly as they usually met in situations where this was relevant; however, it was impossible to spend any amount of time around Atobe and not hear about half a dozen other skills he was proud of. Sanada had no idea why he needed to know that Atobe could play the piano and speak five languages, but apparently this was absolutely essential, given the way Atobe liked to bring these things up at even the flimsiest excuses.

Sanada was at the point where he stopped even listening whenever Atobe turned the topic to his own magnificence. It didn’t matter, really, Atobe was going to repeat himself anyway. Chances were that whatever Atobe was complimenting himself on had come up before, anyway.

One would have thought that someone so full of his own prowess would have tried to build himself up by pushing down those around him. However, Sanada soon came to find this was not true for Atobe. Perhaps he was just confident enough in himself that he didn’t feel threatened by the success of others, and he certainly had no problem with reminding everyone that he was, in the end, the superior one, but Atobe was still quite happy to compliment those he found deserving of it. He seemed especially fond of praising those who wouldn’t do it for themselves, making sure everyone knew just how skilled Kabaji was or how formidable an opponent Akutagawa could be when he bothered to wake up properly.

Sanada absolutely did not wonder what Atobe might be saying about him when he wasn’t around.

*

Apparently Atobe was entirely incapable of doing anything in a subtle manner.

It went along quite well with his tendencies of throwing money around and making sure everyone knew all about his great and numerous talents. If he wanted people to know how wonderful and amazing he was, of course it made sense for him to make as big a show of it all as possible. Sometimes Sanada wondered why he hadn’t simply gone ahead and added sequins and glitter to the official Hyoutei uniforms, just to dazzle people some more. If anyone could have made it happen, it was Atobe.

He actually asked about this on a particularly frustrated day. The comment earned him a surprised look and then a laugh. That would be utterly pointless, Atobe informed him, as it would have taken away from the pure challenge of a tennis match. He had absolutely no desire to dazzle people on the court with anything but his own prowess.

Sanada watched Atobe carefully putting a shiny, gem-studded collar on his mixed breed mutt of a dog, and started to wonder if Atobe did actually know how to prioritize what to be pretentious about.

*

Much though he hated to admit it, Sanada had to agree that Atobe wasn’t utterly hopeless as a captain.

Certainly, Atobe’s style of being a captain was rather different from Yukimura’s, but then so were their teams. Hyoutei was the largest middle school tennis club Sanada was aware of, and not only did Atobe seem to do an adequate job of leading them, he did so without the aid of a vice captain. It was impressive, if only because it was hard to believe Atobe could focus on anyone besides himself long enough to organize a club of two hundred people. Yet somehow the Hyoutei tennis club not only functioned, it downright thrived, being one of the most notable competitors.

Of course, sometimes Atobe’s approach seemed to consist mostly of getting others to organize everything for him, but then, that was efficient in its own way. There was something rather fascinating about the way the club organized itself under the command of the regulars, leaving Atobe free to speak with Sanada.

All right, so perhaps it wasn’t all bad.

*

With all his tendency for drama, it was not exactly unsurprising that Atobe would also make a show of his anger.

Sure, Atobe did often mask his irritation with snarky comments and snide looks, but that was in public. The ice king of Hyoutei would hardly let his cool demeanor be shaken by minor annoyances, after all, only letting his true rage through when it had built up to truly dreadful levels. As such, Sanada had thought this was Atobe’s general approach to things that angered him. That was, of course, until he actually spent more time around Atobe in private.

Atobe in private, it turned out, was an easily angered, if not downright petty person. Far too often Sanada found himself at the receiving end of frustrated rants and complaints, saw the perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed at this matter or that, learned insults in half a dozen languages as Atobe made his anger clear.

It was a fascinating sight, really, something quite close to Atobe’s true tennis. The blue eyes were sparking with annoyance, the toned body never stopped moving as Atobe paced and gesticulated, the usually calm voice fluctuated with angry words that never seemed to stop.

At some point, though, even Atobe had to come to a halt. So it was with his rant about how utterly infuriating it was of his parents to expect him to come along on a trip to Paris to meet his aunt, did they not know by now that Atobe utterly detested her, and he would miss far too much practice and a full week of school besides, and now why was Sanada looking at him like that?

Sanada took in the sight before him, the ice king with fire in his eyes and flushed cheeks and his perfectly styled hair a mess from angry hands combing through it, and found himself saying words he would have never imagined leaving his lips.

“I know this is a cliché, but you really are pretty when you’re angry.”

It was just about the extent of Sanada’s sweet-talking ability, but apparently Atobe was quite happy to find other ways to occupy his mouth instead.


End file.
